Friday, August 14, 2009

6000 m


Ver mapa más grande
huayna potosi is 6088 meter peak about 2 hours north of la paz. i had no idea it existed until about 2 years ago when messerschmidt traveled through bolivia and posted some amazing pics from summiting. he said it wasn´t too bad, and the mountain is known as the easiest 6000 m peak in the world to summit. anyone with $100 usd can hire a guide and equipment to try it. so i had been scheming to do it for the last 9 months of this trip. lkm, however, wanted nothing to do with it. fortunately, the timing worked out that my brother had 3 days free and a decidedly mild interest in seeing the mountain, so we took a shot at it.

got off to a bad start.
From traveling in bolivia

From traveling in bolivia


huyana potosi in the background. 19,975 feet!
From traveling in bolivia

the actual peak is the one on the right in the background. our guide says some folks do ski down the near face. next trip.
From traveling in bolivia

ice climbing at a glacier near base camp on day 1. very very fun.
From traveling in bolivia

From traveling in bolivia

From traveling in bolivia

From traveling in bolivia

bsmith as we got to high camp - about 5,200 m - on day 2, grumpy and tired.
From traveling in bolivia

From traveling in bolivia

talked with the guides and got a run in on their 1980 ski setup. the only catch was we had to hike up the hill. at 5,200 m, this takes a significant effort.
From traveling in bolivia


started the ascent at about 2am. full moon. no need for headlamps. better this way, so as to not see the bottomless crevasses we were stepping over.
From traveling in bolivia

not much to say about the hike up except that it sucked. after 5 hours of sucking rare air, we were approaching the summit.
From traveling in bolivia

summited right at sunrise. august 6, bolivian independence day... making you proud, mom.
From traveling in bolivia

also making lucha libre proud. our guide loved this. he kept wanting to take more pictures with "ray misterio jr." from the wwf. our guide was tremendous - we got to the top only because of him. he kept us at a steady slow pace for the climb and kept us within our limits. he grew up in a village at about 4,500 m, so he was born acclimated.
From traveling in bolivia

bsmith, powered by m&m´s. unfortunately, no frijoles were to be found.
From traveling in bolivia

sun was up on the way back down... it was a tiring, precarious haul to get back.
From traveling in bolivia

From traveling in bolivia

on the way down, we saw the crevasses that we had crossed earlier. when you peer over the edge, you really can´t see a bottom.
From traveling in bolivia

From traveling in bolivia

got back from the trek and slept for about 18 hours. the trek was well worth it. vale la pena.


lkm and i left bolivia on august 8, a year after the ankle surgery. 9 months goes quick... too quick. we have a few days on a carribean island, and then home to california. see you all soon.

1 comment:

AM said...

What a great series of pictures. the ice climbing looks so fun. So...are you guys back now?